Printers Manuals

OVERVIEW: The Xerox DocuColor 250 is the faster sibling of the DocuColor 240, with a 15% increase in print and copy speeds. With built-in support for 13” x 19” documents, five paper trays for over 3,000 total sheet capacities, gigabit Ethernet support, and the flexibility to become a light production print shop, the Xerox DocuColor 250 is a good choice for printing, copying, and scanning where space is a premium.

PROS:
The first thing that grabs your attention on the DocuColor 250 is the prominently positioned blue control panel. The touch screen User Interface (UI) gives easy access to popular functions, with additional menus for all of the DocuColor’s features. A traditional 10-keypad is provided along with the buttons most users are used to using with copiers.

One of the nice features of this multifunction is it can multitask. A person can scan or copy directly on the DocuColor while print jobs are being performed via the network. Even if it’s printing, you can still program the 250 to scan ahead without having to wait.

The DocuColor 250 prints at speeds up to 50 pages per minute in color, 65 single-sided pages per minute in black-and-white. Having one of the highest resolutions at 2,400 x 2,400, it gives you professional high-image quality and clarity. The polymerized toner helps enhance definition and sharpness. An Enhanced Gloss mode allows you to adjust the amount of glossiness on the print.

The duplexing Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) can handle the copying and scanning of your 2-sided originals, be they in color or in B&W. With a 250-sheet capacity, it handles about twice the amount of other ADFs. Sensors allow the multi-function to determine document sizes.

The DocuColor 250 comes with two 500-sheet cassette trays, an 870-sheet and a 1,140-sheet tandem tray that supports papers from 8½ “x 11” up to 11” x 17”. When one tray is empty the DocuColor 250 will automatically switch to a tray containing the same size and type paper. A 250-sheet multi-purpose bypass tray handles various paper weights and sizes up to 13” x 19”.

The 250 comes standard with a built-in auto-sensing network card that can support up to gigabit Ethernet speeds. The expandable 256MB of memory and an 80GB hard drive enables this DocuColor to handle any size print request and to securely save jobs to the hard drive.

Color copies up to 13” x 19” can be made directly on the glass platen, or using the Automatic Document Feeder (ADF). The duplexing ability of the ADF allows for making copies from 2-sided originals without having to manually flip the papers. Zoom ranges from 25% to 400% with a choice of 1% increments, automatic resizing, or in ten jumps. Resolution and print speeds are spec’d at 2,400 x 2,400 dpi and by scanning one time and storing the images to memory allows for copying speeds of 65 ppm. You can choose if copies are to be collated or stacked into the offset catch tray.

Scanned documents can be exported as 600 x 600 PDF files and sent to a network directory, e-mail, or on the internal hard drive.

Two optional Finishers can give the DocuColor series full publishing features including staple, multi-hole punch, Z, C, and V-folding and binding for catalogs and magazines. The DocuColor is able to interface with 3rd party peripherals such as magnetic strip readers (for ID cards) and coin machines, to expand its functions beyond the workplace to universities and self-serve copy stores.

CONS:
In spite of Xerox’s claims, you don’t want to just plop anybody in front of this unit without some training. As a support engineer, I found the most downtime for machines of this size comes when untrained people start “using” them. Since most buyers of DocuColors and WorkCentres will want to establish passwords and user accounts for auditing and security, the end-user will need to be taught the basics (like what their password is). With a 1-hour training and “lab”, I‘ve been able to get the most technophobic people productive on these office machines. Here’s where an hour of prevention is worth days of non-productivity.

Normally multifunction printers have identical resolutions for scan and copy functions, often with the scanning resolutions being higher. While it’s not a big issue, it is interesting that the DocuColor 250 is only spec’d to have a 600 x 600 dpi resolution in scan mode.

INK / TONER NEEDS:
The DocuColor uses Xerox’s Emulsion Aggregate toner, a resin-like ink for sharper imaging and less color bleeding. Prints that use polymerized toners like EA tend to have a nice glossy look and a waxy feel to them.

Dual black cartridges allow for easy changing of the highest consumed item without stopping the printer. Each black toner provides 5% coverage on 30,000 pages, and the three colors 34,000 pages each. Just remember that if you’re doing full-color spread layouts and photograph prints, the actual toner usage per page is going to be at least 10 times more, reducing the number of pages you can get out of a cartridge.

The toner can be purchased separately, especially if the yellow toner gets consumed the most. To save on costs, toner combo-packages are also available.

Other consumables to consider are replacement of the imaging units (drums) every 65,000 prints (the black drum every 150,000), the fuser and transfer roller after 160,000 prints, and the waste toner bottle after 50,000 prints.

OVERVIEW: 
In the Beginning, Sharp created the AL-1530CS, and it was good. Next, an auto-feeder was attached and the AL-1530CS became the AL-1540CS, and that was good. Then Sharp decided to create from the 1540CS a machine that could print on both sides. It was called the AL-1551CS and it was very, very good.

PROS:
The 53 pound all-in-one copier has a footprint 20.4” x 18.8”. The size is a little large to put on a desk but will feel right at home on any credenza.

The AL-1551CS uses a stationary 10” x 14” platen for scanning instead of a sliding platform to keep its footprint no bigger than its physical size.

Sharp claims the unit has no warm-up time--copying can start immediately after the power is switched on. With a maximum resolution of 600 x 600 dpi, the AL-1551CS can produce up to 99 copies at only 40dB. Scanning the original once and storing the image to memory allows the AL-1551CS to make copies at the rate of 15 pages per minute. The Automatic Document Feeder (or ADF) can hold up to 30 legal-size 1-sided originals. The user can change magnifications from 50% up to 200%, and manually or automatically adjust exposure settings.

One of the “gotchas” for 2-sided copying is the originals in the ADF must be single-sided. One option rather than burning through paper making the originals 1-sided is if the originals are in electronic form to use the printer capabilities of the AL-1551CS to print them from a computer as 2-sided duplicates.

The sliding paper tray can hold up to 250 sheets of either letter (8½” x 11”) or legal (8½” x 14”) size paper. Non-standard sizes up to 10” x 14” can be placed singly on the scan platform. A 50-sheet multi-purpose flip-tray is on the side of the machine for making copies on transparencies, cardstock, or other specialized paper.

Using either Parallel or the USB 1.1 connection, the AL-1551CS can be connected to a computer to double as a modest laser printer. In a small office, the Sharp can be set up to be a shared printer, provided the computer it’s connected to remains on during the hours the printer would get used. When connected to a computer, the AL-1551CS can scan color images with resolutions up to 600 x 1,200 dpi.

CONS:
The design of the AL series is primarily based to focus on copier features. During its prime, a 15 ppm copy speed was impressive for a small copier. In printer mode, the touted 12 ppm speed can only be achieved at lowest resolution (but that’s the caveat for any printer specs). Don’t expect the faster print speeds of 20 ppm that’s typical of current B&W laser printers.

The 250-sheet paper tray is woefully undersized for office copy use. It’s typical for even a small office to go through a ream of paper in a single day. And it’s also common for offices buy paper in 500-sheet reams, if not a 10-ream case. For all you office folk out there: How many times have you taken a ream of paper from the supply cabinet to fill an empty printer, only to find the printer’s tray only has the capacity to hold half that amount? Now, next question: what usually happens to the rest of that ream? By the end of the day you’ll see the remaining ream somewhere near the printer, sheets pulled haphazardly by people who needed just a couple of blank sheets. By the time the printer needs to be refilled again, the state of that paper is now so uneven and disheveled it’s likely to jam in the printer. For personal and home use, a 250-sheet tray is sufficient, so long as you’re not someone whose home is their office. Having a tray that you can dump an entire ream of paper into would be something any office would invest a few more dollars for.

INK / TONER NEEDS:
The AL-1551CS has separate toner and drum to help reduce overall consumables costs. Sharp offers a choice for toner: the standard-size toner (4,000 pages at 5%), or the High-yield (6,000 pages) unit. The drum unit will need to be replaced ever 18, 000 pages.

During the course of changing toner, people often forget to keep track when it’s time to change the drum.  Combo-packages are available that offer the drum with several toners. By the time the toners are consumed, the remaining drum is replaced. These combo-packages make maintenance easy and increases overall longevity and print quality.

SOFTWARE:
Included is Sharp’s desktop document management software. The software does a decent job in giving you control of the unit’s various printing and scanning functions.

Unfortunately, the software is only for Wintel machines. Apple machines running OS 10.3 and above may be able to use the printing and scanning functions native to OS X or through 3rd party applications, like Photoshop.

OVERVIEW: Now days, most of the “all-in-one” printers in stores today don’t have “all” the features of earlier models. As printers have gotten smaller and sending scanned documents via e-mail has become acceptable in many businesses, the fax feature has been replaced with slots for flash memory media.  However, there are still times when you run across a client or a business that will only accept faxed documents. The Samsung CLX-3160FN is an all-in-one color printer that not only offers faxing, scans, copies, printing, but also direct printing from USB flash drives, and network connectivity.

PROS:
The CLX stands for “Color Laser Multifunction”, the FN for “Fax and Network”.  If you don’t want to turn on the computer every time you want to make a copy, a fax, or e-mail a scan, you don’t have to.  The CLX-3160FN has a full control panel with an on-screen menu for printer setup and operation without the need for software.  There is also an option for choosing whether to print only in B&W to save on color toner. It even has a USB socket that allows you print image files directly from any USB flash/memory drive.

A pass-through external phone jack on the back of the printer allows for plugging a telephone or an answering machine. 15, one-touch programmable keys allow speed-dialing for up to 30 fax numbers. An address book function allows for more frequently used fax numbers to be stored and retrieved. To protect unwanted access, received fax pages can be stored in memory and retrieved using a 4-digit security password.

As a copier, the 5-in-1 can zoom from 25% up to 400%, and make up to 99 copies in color or B&W. The color scanner portion of the CLX-3160FN is compatible with TWAIN & and XP/Vista’s WIA standards.  Under TWAIN, the 1,200 x 1,200 dpi resolution can be increased to 4,800 x 4,800 dpi.
The CLX-3160FN comes standard with a 150-sheet cassette tray that can support letter or legal-size sheets, with a 1-sheet multi-purpose tray to handle transparencies, labels, post cards, envelopes, 3” x 5” postcards up to 8½” x 14” legal paper of various bond weights. On top of the CLX-3160FN is a 50-sheet automatic document feeder for quick single-sided scanning, faxing, and copying of multiple pages. If 150-sheet capacity is a little thin, a 250-sheet cassette can be added on for more paper capacity.

You’re giving the choice of USB or Ethernet connectivity. The 128MB of built-in RAM allows this multi-function printer to easily handle the print demands of networked computers.

After a quick 35-second warm-up, the CLX-3160FN prints and copies up to a modest 17 pages per minute in Black and White, 4 pages per minute in color. In operation, the all-in-1 produces 52dB of sound and 35dB when idle. Think of 55dB as the sound of low conversations and 40 decibels as the level of whispering. At a maximum print resolution of 2400 x 600 dpi, the CLX-3160FN keeps text reasonably clear--and does a decent job with basic graphics.

CONS:
One of the things you need to consider when you decide to get a color laser printer is if you want a “multi-pass” color printing or “single-pass” printing. The CLX-3160FN is a color multi-pass printer: color printing is 4 times slower printing because the paper has to pass through each of the 4 toners. It’s similar to the way t-shirts and posters are manually silk-screened. If you plan on a lot of color printing, you might want to opt for a single-pass printer instead.
The CLX-3160FN only offers Samsung’s SPL-C print emulator.  While the SPL-C will handle most jobs, imaging problems like “ghosting” can occur if trying to print certain graphics created by Adobe’s Photoshop or Illustrator without PostScript emulation.

INK / TONER NEEDS:
The CLX-3160FN comes with a 75% full black cartridge, and 70% full color cartridges. The standard yield cartridges can be purchased separately, especially if the black toner gets depleted at a higher rate than the other colors. Combo-packages are available to save on costs.
Other consumables you’ll need to consider is replacing the waste toner container every 1,250 pages, and replacement of the Imaging Unit every 20,000 passes.  One color page goes through 4 toner passes, while a B&W page only has one pass. So if you only do color printing, your time to replace is shortened up to a factor of four.

SOFTWARE:   
Being a multi-purpose printer, one would expect the software to provide full functions for all the computer platforms Samsung claims it supports.  The software in the CD-ROM is primarily for Windows compatible machines. For Windows users, the SmartThru software provides the most features, supporting not only scanning and printing, but offering an advanced printing section that allows for booklet printing, creating a large poster mosaics, and watermarks.

To remotely change network printer configurations and notifications, Samsung’s SyncThru Web service allows printer changes to be made using your IE, Safari, or Firefox browser.

OVERVIEW: 
When you’re looking for an all-in-one, you have two choices: either buy a printer that happens to scan and copy, or buy a copier that happens to print and scan. The Sharp AL-1530CS is a 15 ppm copier, a 12 ppm printer, and color scanner all in one compact design.

PROS:
The 40 pound all-in-one copier has a footprint 20.4” x 17.5”. The size is a little large to put on a desk but will feel right at home on any credenza.

The AL-1530CS is a single-feed copier, using a stationary 10” x 14” platen for scanning instead of a sliding platform to keep its footprint no bigger than its physical size.

With a maximum resolution of 600 x 600 dpi, the AL-1530CS can produce up to 99 copies. Scanning the original once and storing the image to memory allows the AL-1530CS to make copies at the rate of 15 pages per minute. The user can change the magnification from 50% to 200%--not the widest range compared to other models but the most commonly used.

The sliding paper tray can hold up to 250 sheets of either letter (8½” x 11”) or legal (8½” x 14”) size paper. Non-standard sizes up to 10” x 14” can be placed singly on the scan platform.

Using either Parallel or the USB 1.1 connection, the AL-1530CS can be connected to a computer to double as a modest laser printer. In a small office, the Sharp can be set up to be a shared printer provided the computer it’s connected to remains on during the hours the printer would get used. When connected to a computer, the AL-1530CS can scan color images with digitally enhanced resolutions up to 1,200 x 1,200 dpi.

This all-in-one Sharp was made for compactness, not expandability. There are no options available to increase its paper or memory capacities, to add an auto-feeder, or to make it a network printer.

CONS:
The design of the AL series is primarily based to focus on copier features. During it’s prime, a 15 ppm copy speed was impressive for a small copier. In printer mode, the touted 12 ppm speed can only be achieved at lowest resolution (but that’s the caveat for any printer specs). Don’t expect the faster print speeds of 20 ppm that’s typical of current B&W laser printers.

The 250-sheet paper tray is woefully undersized for office copy use. It’s typical for even a small office to go through a ream of paper in a single day. And it’s also common for offices buy paper in 500-sheet reams, if not a 10-ream case. For all you office folk out there: How many times have you taken a ream of paper from the supply cabinet to fill an empty printer, only to find the printer’s tray only has the capacity to hold half that amount? Now, next question: what usually happens to the rest of that ream? By the end of the day you’ll see the remaining ream somewhere near the printer, sheets pulled haphazardly by people who needed just a couple of blank sheets. By the time the printer needs to be refilled again, the state of that paper is now so uneven and disheveled it’s likely to jam in the printer. For personal and home use, a 250-sheet tray is sufficient, so long as you’re not someone whose home is their office. Having a tray that you can dump an entire ream of paper into would be something any office would invest a few more dollars for.

INK / TONER NEEDS:
The AL-1530CS has separate toner and drum to help reduce overall consumables costs. Sharp offers a choice for toner: the standard-size toner (4,000 pages at 5%), or the High-yield (6,000 pages) unit. The drum unit will need to be replaced ever 18, 000 pages.

During the course of changing toner, people often forget to keep track when it’s time to change the drum.  Combo-packages are available that offer the drum with several toners. By the time the toners are consumed, the remaining drum is replaced. These combo-packages make maintenance easy and increases overall longevity and print quality.

SOFTWARE:
Included is Sharp’s desktop document management software. The software does a decent job in giving you control of the unit’s various printing and scanning functions.

Unfortunately, the software is only for Wintel machines. Apple machines running OS 10.3 and above may be able to use the printing and scanning functions native to OS X or through 3rd party applications, like Photoshop.